Autonomous vehicles, for instance, vehicles that do not require a human driver, can be used to aid in the transport of passengers or items from one location to another. Such vehicles may operate in a fully autonomous mode where passengers may provide some initial input, such as a pickup or destination location, and the vehicle maneuvers itself to that location without the need for additional input from the passenger or any other human. Thus, such vehicles may be used to provide transportation services.
Various types of vehicles, such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, busses, boats, airplanes, helicopters, lawn mowers, recreational vehicles, amusement park vehicles, farm equipment, construction equipment, trams, golf carts, trains, trolleys, etc., may be equipped with various types of sensors in order to detect objects in the vehicle's environment. For example, vehicles, such as autonomous vehicles, may include such LIDAR, radar, sonar, camera, or other such imaging sensors that scan and record data from the vehicle's environment. Sensor data from one or more of these sensors may be used to detect objects and their respective characteristics (position, shape, heading, speed, etc.).
However, these vehicles are often subjected to environmental elements such as rain, snow, dirt, condensation, etc., which can cause a buildup of debris and contaminants on these sensors. Typically, the sensors include a cover to protect the internal sensor components of the sensors from the debris and contaminants, but over time, the cover itself may be subjected to debris and contaminants. As such, the functions of the sensor components may be impeded as signals transmitted and received by the internal sensor components are blocked by the debris and contaminants.